Man escapes western Pennsylvania mental hospital

DERRY, Pa.-- State police are searching for an assault suspect who climbed a fence to escape from a western Pennsylvania mental hospital.

Troopers from the Greensburg barracks say 21-year-old Steven Michael Barron ran into the woods next to Torrance State Hospital in Derry Township after escaping shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Police say Barron had been court-committed to the facility and is known to be volatile and proficient with knives. Police didn't say why Barron was committed to the facility about 45 miles east of Pittsburgh, but say he also faces an arrest warrant for unrelated charges of simple assault and harassment filed in Erie County in northwestern Pennsylvania.

Barron is from Crabtree, a small village about 15 miles west of the mental hospital.

Police have been unable to find him despite using bloodhounds and other K9 officers.